Uutisia War Resisters' Internationalin (WRI) sivustolla

Journalists in the UK and Denmark have uncovered evidence that BAE Systems – the UK's largest arms companies and one of the largest in the world – has profited from the sale of surveillance technology, including to many oppressive governments in the Middle East.

In May 2017, US vendors of weapons made by German company Heckler and Koch received a letter purporting to be from Martin Obermann, the company's head of Transatlantic Sales, informing them of a mass recall of the weapons. The letter read,

MagForce (or Mag Force) International is a manufacturer of military equipment based in France, with head offices in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers. The company sells equipment and vehicles to militaries and the police forces around the world, including uniforms and other clothing, armoured vehicles, and crowd control weaponry. The company’s website includes various water cannons, riot shields, and chemical weapons such as mace.

In May and June 2017, activists in Canada, Israel and the Czech Republic have taken nonviolent direct action against arms fairs.

In Ottawa, Canada, 40 activists blockaded the entrance to the CANSEC fair for over an hour. CANSEC is an annual two day event hosting 800 companies from across the arms industries, and attended by 12,000 people. As well as exhibits of weapons and other equipment, attendees were given the opportunity to hear presentations from government ministers and attend evening receptions sponsored by Lockheed Martin.

In 2007 the head of the British Army’s recruitment strategy stated, “Our new model is about raising awareness, and that takes a ten-year span. It starts with a seven-year-old boy seeing a parachutist at an air show and thinking, ‘That looks great.’ From then the Army is trying to build interest by drip, drip, drip.” Industries, crucially the arms and fossil fuels industries, are attempting to do exactly the same thing.

While 119 nations have joined the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions to rid the world of cluster munitions, in the past four years, 166 financial institutions invested US$31 billion in companies that produce cluster munitions, an increase from $28 billion in 2016.

As the ISDEF (International Defense & HLS) arms fair got under way in Tel Aviv earlier this month, a shadow conference – INsecurity: 50 years of Exporting Occupation – was also taking place challenging the narrative of the military industries. Coalition of Women for Peace invited speakers from around the world to participate in a series of panel discussions with Palestinian and Israeli campaigners, drawing parallels between the experiences of those living in militarised communities such as the favelas of Brazil and the realities of the lives of Palestinians living under occupation.

Anti-conscription activists in South KoreaOn 25th May, War Resisters' International organised a webinar on conscientious objection, peace education and countering youth militarisation in South Korea. In the webinar, we had presentations from two Seoul-based peace campaigners active in the field for many years: Hanui Choi, Coordinator and Peace Education Facilitator at PEACE MOMO, and Seungho Park, a conscientious objector and an activist from World without War.

Photo: Miguel GutierrezThis month RAMALC - the Latin American and Caribbean Antimilitarist Network (Red Antimilitarista de América Latina y el Caribe) - ran a webinar - ¿Son pacíficas las protestas que ocurren en Venezuela? (Are the protests that are taking place in Venezuela peaceful?). Since 1st April, a series of protests have occurred in Venezuela in which more than 50 people have lost their lives. What are the motivations and characteristics of the demonstrations?

Participants in our 2015 "Stopping the war business" seminarIn September 2017, activists from across the world will gather in London to resist the DSEI arms fair, and for WRI's annual Council meeting. On Sunday 10th September, WRI will host an activist seminar, “War Stops Here”, to support action against the arms trade and other forms of war profiteering. For more information, see http://www.wri-irg.org/en/war-stops-here-10-sept

Thank you! We made it to our crowdfunding target, raising £2045 towards our campaign to make resistance to the DSEI London arms fair international. Thank you so much to the 52 people who donated (your perks will be in the post!), and the hundreds of people who supported by sharing it.

Militarisation in #Eritrea is extreme, with indefinite conscription in often unbearable conditions. Conscientious objectors are imprisoned. Many people flee the country if they can, but if they arrive in Europe, they are not always given protection, and this month the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Swiss government is not in breach of the European Convention by expelling an Eritrean asylum seeker.

We made it to our crowdfunding target, raising £2045 towards our campaign to make resistance to the DSEI London arms fair international. Thank you so much to the 52 people who donated (your perks will be in the post!), and the hundreds of people who supported by sharing it.

Photo: Miguel GutierrezThere are antimilitarists, conscientious objectors, nonviolent activists and pacifists in Venezuela. There are also member organizations of the Latin American and Caribbean Antimilitarist Network, Ramalc. We embrace all of them, and send our solidarity and accompaniment. We want them alive, healthy and free.

At present, the community of human rights defenders in Venezuela is being subjected to persecution and repression because of their activities. We extend to them our solidarity and support; we are and will continue to be vigilant in denouncing these persecutions.

Published today: we're calling for the renewal of the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Eritrea.

We're glad to be amongst those working to keep the focus on the human rights situation in #Eritrea, where conscription is indefinite and militarisation "excessive" (according to Special Rapporteur Sheila B. Keetharuth).

Actions are taking place in Brussels this week against in the run up to the NATO summit. Yesterday (23rd May), a group of peace activists occupied the offices of the European Commission. With their action they denounced the steps the European Union is taking to start a military research programme carried out by the arms industry. They set up tents, and were in place in all morning.

See a video of yesterday's occupation of the European Commission here.